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Thursday, November 24, 2016

The Skinny: Los Angeles 4, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 19

Los Angeles 4, Isles 2

Dwight King scored a pair of goals 25 seconds apart to break a 1-1 tie and the Kings scored three goals in a 44 second span as Los Angeles earned the 1,600th win in franchise history with a 4-2 win over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 18,230 at Staples Center.

Anders Lee had both goals for the Isles, ending a 14-game goalless streak.

The Isles defense contributed two assists, giving them 14 goals and 28 assists this season…The Isles are 0-7-1 when trailing after 1 period and 0-6-0 when trailing after 2 periods…Matt Greene played in his 600th NHL game for Los Angeles, one night after Nikolay Kulemin had done the same for the Isles…Anders Lee's goal was his first since October 18th vs. San Jose…The Kings have sold out 182 consecutive regular season games (215 including playoffs)..The Isles allowed the first goal for the fourth straight game (and sixth in last seven games)…Anders Lee matched a career-high with two goals; it was his 6th 2-goal game (and his first since April 7, 2015 in Philadelphia)…The Isles are 2-4-4 in November…Dwight King recorded his 100th point on the lead goal and then added his 101st point on the eventual game-winner… Counting Lee's second goal, the game's final four goals occurred in 61 seconds…The three King goals in 44 seconds were just two seconds shy of the club record for the fastest three goals against the Isles (42 seconds by Tampa Bay in 2008) and three seconds shy of LA's record for fastest three goals scored (41 seconds vs. St. Louis in 1998).

Movin' on Up

John Tavares played in his 529th Islander game, tying Kyle Okposo for 23rd all-time. He will tie Pat LaFontaine for 22nd on Friday.

Late Losses

The Isles have been tied in the third period in five of their nine regulation losses (and nine of their 13 overall losses) but have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation four times:

·10/18 – SJ Sharks - Joe Pavelski (17:49)

·10/26 – Mtl Canadiens - Shea Weber (17:03)

·10/27 – Pit Penguins - Sidney Crosby (17:35)

·11/23 – LA Kings – Dwight King (17:07)

The Isles have also allowed the tying goal in the final minute on three occasions:

The Isles are in the midst of their first significant road stretch of the season, as five out of seven games are on the road:

11/10 @ Lightning - Lost 4-1

11/12 @ Panthers - Lost 3-2 (OT)

11/14 Vs Lightning – Lost 4-0

11/18 Vs Penguins – Lost 3-2 (OT)

11/22 @ Ducks – Won 3-2 (SO)

11/23 @ Kings-- Lost 4-2

11/25 @ Sharks

Following this stretch the Isles will play 10 out of their next 14 at home and will not play consecutive road games until after Christmas.

California Dreaming

The Isles are 1-1-0 on this California trip with one game to play. The Isles went 2-1-0 in California in each of the last two seasons and both trips led to a prolonged hot streak for the team.

The Shots

Isles 7-7-10=24

Los Angeles 12-6-10=28

The Isles are 4-3-1 when they outshoot their opponents and 1-0-0 when the shots are even but are 1-6-3 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 6-9-4 overall; 5-4-3 at home and 1-5-1 on the road.

Los Angeles is 11-9-1 overall; 8-2-0 at home and 3-7-1 on the road.

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 0-3-2 in Division games and 6-6-2 in games versus other divisions (1-4-1 vs. Atlantic, 1-0-0 vs. Central and 4-2-1 vs. Pacific). The Isles are 1-7-3 against the East and 5-2-1 against the West.

Last season the Isles went 18-8-4 in Division games and 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. The Isles went 19-7-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves but falls to 3-6-4 on the season and 6-9-2 in his career against Los Angeles.

Peter Budaj made 22 saves to improve to 11-6-1 on the season and 1-1-1 against the Isles in his career. Budaj has played in 19 straight games.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play, while Los Angeles was also 0-2. However, the Kings' winning goal came just one second after their second power play expired.

The Isles are 1-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-6-1 when they do not. The Isles are 3-5-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-4-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-8-3 when they do not. The Isles were 37-4-2 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 3-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-1 in games decided in overtime and are 1-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 3-0-2 when they score first and are 3-9-1 when they allow the opening goal. The Isles have allowed the opening goal in four straight games and six of the last seven games.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 216-184-60 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.Al Arbour 1,500

2.Jack Capuano 460

3.Mike Milbury 191

4.Terry Simpson 187

5.Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.Al Arbour 740

2.Jack Capuano 216

3.Terry Simpson 81

4.Peter Laviolette 77

5.Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 75th coach in NHL history to coach at least 450 games. His 216 wins places him 66th all-time, 3 behind Herb Brooks and 5 behind Bob McCammon.

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-2-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 1-2-0 on the back-end. Last season, the Isles went 5-5-5 on the front-end and 9-3-3 on the back end of back-to-backs.

The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season; the next set is November 30 vs. Pittsburgh and December 1 in Washington.

Tired vs. Rested

·The Isles are 1-0-0 when both teams played the night before.

·The Isles are 3-1-1 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·The Isles are 0-2-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

The Kings lead the season series one game to none (and two points to zero).

The Isles are now 1-6-0 in their last seven trips to Staples Center (with the win coming in a shootout). The Isles' last regulation win in Los Angeles came in 2003, when Garth Snow beat the Kings by a 3-2 score.

The teams will conclude their season series on January 21st at Barclay's Center.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers won their third straight and improved to 11-5-0 on the season with a 4-2 win in Hartford on Wednesday. Eamon McAdam made 30 saves to improve to 3-0-0 while Steve Bernier scored twice (the latter when a shot he blocked ended up in an empty net) for Bridgeport.

The Sound Tigers host Wilkes Barre-Scranton in the front-end of a home-and-home on Friday.

Up Next

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25th–ISLANDERS AT SAN JOSE- 4:00PM

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 3:30), WNYM 970, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders conclude their California road trip with the final meeting of the season with the San Jose Sharks.

Joe Pavelski scored the winning goal with under 3 minutes to play in the third period to give the Sharks a 3-2 win in Brooklyn on October 18th; that's the Isles' only regulation loss to a Western Conference foe at Barclay's Center.

The Isles defeated the Sharks 4-2 in San Jose last November for their first regulation win in The Tank since 2003 and are 2-1-1 in their last four trips to Northern California.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog http://www.nyiskinny.com./

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick